Tag: cooking advice

Preparing meals everyday can be a boring experience. Why not learn some new cooking methods to spice up your meals? After all, cooking not only creates a nourishing meal, but it can be a pleasurable activity with something new to uncover at every turn. The cooking advice in this article will help you start cooking.

Give pie and tart crust a little longer baking time than you normally would for the best results. Pastry crust should be baked to a golden caramel color rather than a pale blond shade. This deeper color is evidence that the sugar has caramelized in the crust for added sweetness.

Store herbs and spices in an area that is cool and dark. Humidity, heat and light can all cause flavors to weaken thus making your foods not able to obtain their potential. A lot of the time, you can expect an herb or a space to retain flavor for about a year. Spices that are kept whole can keep their flavor for about three, four or five years. When stored properly, spice stay fresh for longer periods of time.

Boiling and other long preparation methods tend to eliminate key nutrients in vegetables. If you want them to be healthier, try cooking them quickly by steaming or sauteing, or eat them raw!

A great starting point when looking to expand your cooking repertoire is your local library or bookstore. Look for cookbooks which contain basic and simple recipes for you to practice and have fun preparing. Experiment with several recipes, and give yourself the time in perfecting your cooking skills.

For healthier, lower-calorie mashed potatoes, add some cooked cauliflower to your tubers. The bland cauliflower taste will make it so that you do not notice much difference in the taste, while accentuating the taste of some of the other ingredients. Cauliflower has the same texture and color as mashed potatoes, so the dish will be transformed into one that has more vegetables and fewer calories.

If you are cooking a dish in oil and need to add more to the pan, drizzle it around the sides. This way, the oil heats up before it reaches the food. Your finished dishes will be enhanced and more flavorful if you do this.

Vegetables that are cooked more quickly will be of higher quality. Though slow cooking is popular in some cultures, the process actually eliminates important nutrients and renders the vegetables tasteless. You have an added bonus, because these certain techniques make vegetables healthier in general. Learning to give them just a quick steam is the best way to cook them.

Eat a piece of meat when experimenting with seasoning before cooking all of it. Many foods, like hamburgers, meatloaf and meatballs take careful seasoning to taste great. After seasoning the meat, do not cook all of it. Rather, set aside a small bit of the meat and cook it the same way you will make the rest. The aroma of the food as it cooks will also give you a clue to the amount of seasoning you need to add.

They will act somewhat like a sponge that soaks up all the water. So, in order to clean them, wipe off each mushroom with a clean, wet cloth.

Raw potatoes should rest in chilly water for approximately 30 minutes. This will help them to be crispy and delicious. Soaking potatoes accomplishes two important things for your French fries; it takes out sugar and starch during the soaking process.

When you are making chicken stock, think big. Instead of making a single serving, make a whole stock pot and save the leftovers so you can freeze them. Good chicken stock that you make at home makes a great starter for soups, casseroles, stews and other dishes. Allow the stock to cool, then split it up into heavy duty Ziploc freezer bags.

Complete as much of the preparatory work as possible for your meals ahead of time to speed up the process of cooking. Check recipes to find out what can be prepared ahead of time without risking spoilage. The day before the cooking happens, there can be a lot of prep work done. This will enable you to enjoy the process of creating dishes that ordinarily would be a real task.

When cooking with pumpkins, you will need to place the pumpkin upright then slice it in half right down the middle. Next, take each half and place them cut side down onto separate baking sheets. Sprinkle a small amount of water on the baking sheets, and then bake the pumpkin at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for around an hour.

Garlic aromas can transfer to your hands and be hard to get rid of. An easy way to remove the smell is to rub your hands on a stainless steel surface like your sink. This serves to both clean your hands thoroughly and prevent the odors from seeping into any other food you are going to handle.

When you season food add a little at a time every few minutes rather than adding it all at one time. In this way you will give your food all the flavoring you can as well as using your ingredients more efficiently.

Baking Sheet

Organize your materials as best as possible, if you desire to prevent the hazards of burns in the kitchen. Just like with anything you do, the more organized you are, the more productive you will be. Also, organize your refrigerator and pantry to avoid buying unnecessary items that will eventually be thrown out.

When cooking pumpkins, stand the pumpkin so that it is upright. Next, cut it down the middle. Next, set each of the two pieces on a separate baking sheet, taking care to place each one cut side down. Preheat the oven to 350 F, spray a little bit of water over the surface of the baking sheet, and bake the pumpkin for an hour.

To minimize the effort involved with cooking, clean the dishes you use as you move throughout the cooking process. Make it easy on yourself by filling your sink with water, while reserving a separate section for rinsing. Most bowls, pots, pans and utensils are much easier to clean immediately after they’re done being used, and this will ensure that they’re ready go if you need them again during the preparation of your meal.

In this manner, you will be able to preserve the freshness of the fruit throughout the year. You also have the benefit of enjoying fruits out of season.

Add plenty of salt to the water when you are cooking pasta. The seasonings in the water will infuse the pasta thoroughly. Salting pasta after cooking it results in a less flavorful pasta dish.

You should always use cooking oil in exact measurements. To lower the fat you use when cooking, make sure to measure the oil you use as opposed to just pouring it straight into the pan. This is the best way to monitor how much oil you use.

To give your pasta sauce some additional flavor, use some of the water that the pasta was cooked in. Remove approximately a quarter of a cup and set it aside. The water should be added to the sauce and pasta mixture. The water from the pasta contains starch, which can thicken your sauce.

Try drying your own tomatoes. You can do this by slicing your tomatoes about a half an inch thick, or Romas in half. Using a cooling rack, lay the sliced tomatoes with the side that is cut facing upward, and then sprinkle them lightly with salt. After placing the rack atop a cookie sheet, allow the tomatoes to dry for 10 hours in an oven at 190 degrees. The tomatoes can then be placed in plastic bags and stored in the freezer. Zing up your dried tomatoes and conserve them at the same time by canning them in olive oil and herbs. Put your canned tomatoes in the fridge and be sure to use them in the next two weeks.

Impress your loved ones or guests with great sandwiches by spreading the mayo evenly across the corners of the bread slices. Many people rush and just place the mayo in the bread slice’s middle. An even spread will ensure that every single bite tastes as it should.

To keep your dried herbs and spices flavorful, keep your spice rack tucked away somewhere cool and dark. Heat will cause flavor loss in your herbs and spices; therefore, they should be kept away from heat sources such as stoves.

Get all your preparations done and ready before you begin cooking a meal. This can help you avoid too much heat or gas when you cook, and can also make it safer to cook with a hot pan, oil, or other dangers that could harm you if you’re distracted.

After eating turkey, such as for Thanksgiving, never throw away leftovers. Cut up the meat instead, put it in a container, and freeze it. Turkey remains fresh up to three weeks after being frozen.

Prior to barbecuing food, be sure that the grill is properly prepared. This should be done about 30 minutes prior to putting any food on it. The heat should be moderate and the charcoal should be a little ashy. This is the most effective temperature for grilling.

Do not forget to replace your spices twice a year. Many times, spices are kept for too long, and they lose their flavor. If you purchase a spice that you don’t use very often, give some of it to friends or relatives.

Take care of wooden cutting boards properly. Excessive moisture, dryness, or heat all affect wood cutting boards and can cause them to split and change shape. It is important to never immerse a wooden cutting board entirely in water. Using a sponge soaked in warm, soapy water is the best way to clean it. Cutting boards should be treated regularly with specifically designed oil products. Make sure it is completely dry before you use it.

To quickly cut herbs, bind herbs together and snip with scissors. When cut in this way, these herbs will have a lighter, fresher appearance.

Keep close watch when baking to avoid under cooking or overcooking a cake. Though recommended cooking times are a great guideline for novice cake bakers, they can be misleading, because factors such as elevation can impact the actual cook time of the cake. Use a toothpick to tell if it is done by inserting it into the cake. The cake will be done when the toothpick comes out without any batter attached; if it doesn’t, bake it longer.

Make your cleanup easier by washing dishes as they are used in the cooking process. If you have a double sink, be sure to keep one half filled with hot, soapy water and the other with clean rinse water. Cookware is easier to clean right after it has been used, and it will be ready for another use immediately.

Learn about any new foods that you haven’t worked with before. You might be surprised of the possibilities you will learn about for food. You can have much more fun when cooking if you do some prep work and research ahead of time.

Use salt liberally in the water used to cook pasta. Seasoning will impregnate the pasta more efficiently while it cooks. Salting after boiling your pasta will not give the same effect of absorption.

You should have stackable cooling racks in your kitchen. Especially if you are whipping up big batches of your favorites cookies or other goodies, the results of your baking can take up a considerable amount of space in your kitchen – space you could better utilize. In order to maximize counter space, get some stacking cooling racks instead. Instead of an ocean of cookies taking up your countertop, they are all stacked on the cooking racks, which means you can prepare something else while they cool.

Now that you see how cooking can become an exciting new hobby, use these tips and hints to start adding some style and flair to your daily meal preparations. Cooking is a great way to learn about nutrition. You may even learn something new about yourself through cooking. As you get better and better, you’ll enjoy it more and more, and your creations will become more delicious.

Don’t use metal or wooden utensils when cooking with non-stick cookware. Wood and metal utensils can scratch the coating, which reduces the pan’s effectiveness and allowing bits of the coating, a known carcinogen, to enter your food. This is dangerous as well as unappetizing.